Radha Krishna Bless Chaitanya and Nityananda Mahaprabhu

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This oil painting from the Exotic India collection is infused with a deeply spiritual fervour. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Swami Nityananda have been depicted with great with perfection, with the supreme devta and His consort in the background. These two saints were founders of the Gaudiya school of Vaishnavism and great bhakti yogies of their day. In fact, to this day they are widely revered and stories of their great devotion abound in the subcontinent.

Lord Krishna was the the supreme ruler of their saintly hearts. In this painting, their tall lissome bodies have broken into an ecstatic dance ritual, so steeped are they in their bhakti to Him. The ample pleats of their dhoties, the colour of soft pastels considered holy in the Hindu world, are ruffled by the rythmic movements of their feet. Their over-the-shoulder garments and the long, dense garlands of flowers across their shoulders are swaying with the motion of their lily-white bodies, so high is the level of detail in this painting. Sacred tulsimalas rest on their gentle necks, while the distinctive Vaishnava tilaks adorn their chests and foreheads. Sri Chaitanya Deb and Swami Nityananda in their togetherness, their arms thrown up in the air in divine ecstasy, constitute the very picture of devotional saintliness.

Their beloved, the Lord Krishna, and His graceful Radha watch over the twin devotees like their divine parents and protectors. They are bedecked in gracious studded golds, the glitter of the miniscule rubies and emeralds on their ornaments matching the ethereal background of the whole painting. Together they hold one long, slender flute, their gaze locked lovingly into each other's. Note how each has a hand placed gently around the other's shoulder. Their singular halo glows like the sun that sets upon tropical waters.

A multitude of transparent orbs fill the background of this painting. The colour is a rich and dark shade of red, setting off to perfection the pristine complexion of the dancing mystics in the foreground and their pastel garments. Tinier spheres of green and blue add to the shimmer of the unconventional background, giving off the spiritually significant impression of the saints' floating in space, indicative of their having transcended to another higher realm of existence.

Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.

Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.

Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.

Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.